Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 37,427 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 7.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 487,506 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 37,427 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $5,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at $185,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter valued at about $382,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.5% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 212,200 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,567,000 after buying an additional 23,500 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.6% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,690 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 84,750 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $8.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.75 and a 200-day moving average of $15.59. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.46 and a 52-week high of $27.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.40%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.19.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc operates as a healthcare, pharmacy, and retail company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Retail Pharmacy, International, and U.S. Healthcare. The U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment engages in operation of the retail drugstores, health and wellness services, specialty, and home delivery pharmacy services, which offers health and wellness, beauty, personal care and consumables, and general merchandise.